Ayma DommyCicconeEnglish 1116 October 2015The Power of SelfishnessHuman beings are selfish, all the actions we take are done to benefit ourselves in one way or another.Thomas Hobbes and Arthur Miller, the author of ¨The Crucible¨, shows the selfishness of humans in their writings. Hobbes states that many acts that our society considers altruistic are actually performed for internal peace, making the altruistic act selfish. The excerpt from Hobbes' writing states: "Even when we do our best, we think only of ourselves." «The more selfish we are, the more we become beasts. Humans are animals and all animals have the basic instinct of fight or flight, as humans in modern society we will descend to these basic selfish instincts for self-preservation and this is shown by the Salem girls. A woman's life in Salem was very bland, so women take the opportunity to gain and assert authority, such as Abigail openly threatening Hathorne, "Be careful, Mr. Danforth. You think you are so mighty that the power of hell cannot can make you see sense? Be careful... ¨(108) Abigail becomes blind to the amount of power she has within the court, accusing them before they become a threat. Abigail expresses her power through words in the courtroom and by acting in the courtroom to get more power. Soon after openly threatening Hathorne; Abigail and the girls begin to see spirits in the courtroom. I notice that Abigail's motivations fade towards the end of the book as the people of Salem begin to understand what is happening to Abigail he is selfish and runs away from the chaos he created; leaving it for the people of Salem were a bunch of animals, and in the wild it's kill or be killed Arthur Miller demonstrates this in "The Crucible". John Proctor is a good example of someone who does what is best for himself. John tries to save himself but, like Giles Corey, wants a clean name and, "With chest heaving, eyes wide, Proctor tears the paper and crumples it, and cries with rage, but erect" (144). Proctor decides his fate with that action; he gives up his life and soul to keep his name; his fate is decided by his unwillingness to swallow his pride. Dying a hometown hero, John takes with him a clean name. Proctor is a perfect example of Hobbes' idea that everything we do is for ourselves and the benefits are external and sometimes even